Ghosties

How much do these ghosties rock?

I know. So cute.

We made them in activity days.

(Thanks for the idea & guidance, Sarah!)

Woooo....Woooo....

(That's supposed to be a ghost sound...

Use your imagination.)

I had no idea my toes were so wrinkly.

Did you?

Anyway - the reason I posted this pic was

to show off my AWESOME

six-legged silver-eyed spider.

Maybe Vietnamese spiders only

have six legs? I don't know.

But he's cute, huh?

Have a super spooky Halloween!

Gigi's Magic

Gigi has a million tricks up her sleeve.

One of which she pulled out on Saturday.

After relaxing my rear into the couch -

I realized it was mighty quiet.

Not usually a good sign.

What I found was THIS.

ART!!

A genuine creative outlet.

They ALL loved it!

They were occupied for-ever!

Thanks, Gigi!

Poop On My Porch

Nothing says

"welcome to our home"

like a chunk of poo on the front porch.

Okay - it's not really poo.

The people we bought our house

from 'accidentally' left this gift behind for us.

I can't imagine why they didn't take it with them.

Delightful isn't it?

He's now on his way to the Houston City Dump.

Hasta la vista, little poop.

a FORTunate day

FORTune has smiled upon us.

We got to play with Hayley today.

We LOVE that!

Due to the rain, indoor

entertainment was necessary.

Hayley, Maddie, & Rydge built some serious forts.

(notice how clean the rest of the room is,

I just LOVE girls!!)

Then Kyle (=chaos) got involved

and added his fort.
They're still busy building.
I can't WAIT for the happiness when I call out:
"Clean up time!"
There will be joy and rejoicing.
not.

You Gotta Love Houston Part II

Okay, first things first. I must dispel this rumor that I'm some kind of slayer of wild beasts.

Yes, I killed a snake, but truth be told, it was about as big as an overgrown worm. However, it's creepy little coiled up (possibly poisonous ) self has been enough to give me nightmares every night since. The crazy thing about it? My kids were MAD at me for killing it. They wanted me to cover it with a box until they got home so they could release it back into the wild. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Weather update: Because I know you're all so interested in the daily (sometimes hourly) weather changes in southern TX.

Today I woke up and it was 84 and HUMID! Then this delightful blustery storm blew in. Within the last hour the temp has dropped 14 degrees!

My heart is SMILING!!

It almost feels like fall!!

I took this pic from Maddie's upstairs window of the impending storm. It was pouring seconds after I took it. Yummy, yummy. (It's reminiscent of Washington - mmmm, I'm homesick!)

This is the neighbor's house across the street.
Should I be worried about that tree???
TIMBER!

You Gotta Love Houston

I live in a S-A-U-N-A.

Each morning lately, I wake up

and can't see out any of my windows

or doors due to the moisture that

has accumulated there.

This picture doesn't do it justice.

(Look toward BBQ) I'll try and capture it better manana.

But the true joy is walking outside and feeling your hair frizz,

your pits become lakes, your makeup runs,

and instantly feeling stickily stinkified.

These are the days I ask myself...

Why the heckinburg do I live in Houston, TX???

Oh, and I killed a freakin' snake

on my back patio yesterday.

He was a little dude,

but holy crap.

A. snake.on.my.patio.

This is NOT okay.

Blog-less-ness

I have a raging, puke-inducing headache today, and it makes me mad.

This is all I have to say.

(Hopefully I'll be back to my

happy-self tomorrow.

Okay, THAT's all I have to say.)

Am I ready for some football...again....

How cute is my little football boy?

He *LOVES* to tackle people. Surprised?

His uniform, however, is incomplete.

No orange socks. I won't do it.

I call him the Sockless Wonder.

Does it make him play better?

Perhaps. But truth be known,

it's the only way I can spot

him amongst all the other orange and blue

boys out on the field.

The real question is :

will I EVER EVER understand

the football lingo/rules/positions??

I just think my brain is old. Or dusty.

Possibly just severely underused.

Anyway - at least I know

which blue boy belongs to me.

Grumpy Old Man

My babe is 43!

Happy b-day to the greatest husband, provider, father, friend, lover, sports commentator, tooter (if awards were given - he'd win, hands down!), masseuse, coach, example, and DUDE (mem, babe?)

Love you tons!!!!

Testimony

I'll bet he was bummed when

Pres. Hinckley came out with the

"no tattoo" thing.

There are no words.

Actually there are a bunch of words.

I'm not going to say them.

Just wondering...

You know how little kid pants have those awesome adjustable waists?

Elastic strip with button holes & buttons inserted into the waistline.

An ingeniously simple way to tighten or loosen jeans, shorts, and skirts.

Just pull that elastic a little tighter and button ---tighter britches.

Let the elastic out and button ---little more breathing room.

Why, why, why can't that be

available in mommy pants???

Happiness

This is my most favorite place. EVER.

Our temple is closed for the next two weeks for cleaning.

I had the delightful pleasure of being asked to help.

My assignment?

Polishing the 4200 crystals on the chandelier

in the Celestial Room.

No, not by myself - there were about 10 of us

working hard for four hours.

Amazingly enough, there was not ONE speck of dust on my white gloves

after cleaning--- I don't know how many hundreds of crystals.

This chandelier is only cleaned once a year.

No dust. None.

It was truly awesome.

Another testimony to me of the

Lord's attention to detail and cleanliness.

A true privilege.

Ask the Audience

Those of you who know me well, know that I am

(especially decoratively) creatively challenged.

So I'm using my 'ask the audience' option.

Pictured below is my breakfast area in the kitchen.

I want to put some toppers on, but not sure what to do.

I've found two fabrics I love - want to use both.

Any ideas???? Suggestions?

Thanks, friends!

You can email me pics or links if you have them.

raniandfam(at)gmail(dot)com

More Gross-ness

This is me (with rockin' sweet humidity hair)

applying some fancy stage makeup to Kyle's neck for his

first aide training at boyscouts back in July.

He had to show up with an injury.

He explained to me that he wanted to have

an attempted beheading as his mock injury.

That's not morbid or anything.

I did my best.

How about this masterpiece?

You can't tell me that doesn't look like

some fool tried to behead my boy!

The crowning moment of glory was when we stopped by the grocery store

on the way home. Kyle was looking at the Redbox for a movie

and some guys were standing behind him,

covering their mouths in disgust and pointing.

Finally one asked "Dude, doesn't that hurt??"

Kyle replied with pain in his eyes, "Oh, yeah."

Welcome to the family!

After getting a gift card to Petco for

CHRISTMAS

Tyler finally made his purchase.

(no, it's not the cutie in glasses...)

This is SPORT, our new skink.

My animal lovin' Maddie pays more attention

to the creature than anyone else.
If he gets loose...I'm moving out.
And I'm taking my ELFA shelves with me.